FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE July 18, 2000 |
Contact: Becky Campoverde or Dan Lara (202) 225-4527 |
Reps.
Castle, Goodling Introduce Legislation WASHINGTON – Citing the
growing need to improve federal educational research and make it more
independent of political influences, two members of the Education and the
Workforce Committee introduced a bill today to accomplish those goals.
Reps. Michael Castle (R-DE) and Bill Goodling (R-PA) introduced the Scientifically
Based Educational Research, Evaluation, Statistics, and Information Act of
2000. The bill restructures and
streamlines the current system to ensure the quality and integrity of
research, evaluation, and statistics. “Education
research is broken in our country, and Congress must work to make it more
useful, more independent of political influence, and less bureaucratic than
the current system,” said Castle, chairman of the Early Childhood, Youth,
and Families Subcommittee. “Research
needs to be conducted on a more scientific basis.” Among the changes, the
legislation restructures several agencies in the Education Department to
form the new National Academy of
Educational Research, Statistics, Evaluation, and Information. The academy would
replace the Office of Educational Research and Improvement (OERI), currently
located in the Education Department. The
change provides less bureaucracy and more resources for creating high
quality educational research, statistics gathering, program evaluation, and
information dissemination. The
academy, which would consist of four smaller agencies, would be an
organization separate from the Education Department. “I
have always stressed quality over quantity, results over process, and those
principles certainly hold true for educational research,” said Goodling,
chairman of the full committee. “The
agencies that conduct important research need independence.
Researchers should be able to ask difficult questions about education
reform efforts without pressure from Congress or the Education Department.
Duplication and overlap of research responsibilities needs to be
reduced.”
“We propose legislation that sets high standards and significant
reforms because that is what’s needed,” Castle said.
“Educators and policy makers need objective, reliable research,
evaluation, and dissemination.” (A summary of major provisions follows.) Scientifically
Based Educational Research, Evaluation, Statistics, Evidence shows that use of flawed or untested education
proposals can have a negative impact on the education of children.
Therefore, the federal government should hold itself to the highest
standards when conducting educational research, evaluating the success of
federal education programs, and producing educational statistics.
To ensure the quality and integrity of research,
evaluation, and statistics, the bill proposes a restructuring of the current
system. Creating the
National Academy of Educational Research, Statistics, Evaluation, and
Information
o
National Center for Educational Research (NCER). The NCER would replace the six existing education institutes
and be directed by a commissioner. The
agency would focus on a limited number of research priorities designed to
address national educational issues. All research funded by the NCER would
be required to meet the “scientifically valid research” requirements as
defined in the legislation.
o
National Center for Program Evaluation and Development
(NCPED).
Currently, the Education Department is charged with evaluating its
own programs and does not have the incentive to dedicate the resources to
conduct high quality evaluations that determine whether programs are
working. The NCPED would
provide independent program evaluations designed specifically to determine
what works and what does not.
o
National
Center for Educational Information (NCEI). The NCEI would
streamline the existing maze of federal education clearinghouses.
It would be responsible for collecting, archiving, and disseminating
all research, statistics, and evaluations undertaken within the agency, as
well as other relevant education-related materials from other federal
agencies and research institutions.
o National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). The legislation maintains the existing structure under the NCES but moves the agency outside of the Education DepartmentOther Major Provisions
·
A new and more narrowly
focused Office of Planning, Performance Measurement, and Technical
Assistance would replace the current Office of Reform Assistance and
Dissemination.
Prohibition
on National Tests
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